Ditch the Doubt: How to Conquer Your Fears And Overcome Emotional Snowballing When Starting A New Business
It’s 2 am in the morning. You're wide awake, tossing and turning, wondering if people will actually buy what you're selling. You start questioning whether your work is up to par, if you've got what it takes to build a kickass business, or if you're just fooling yourself.
Ah, the delightful dance of self-doubt!
Being an entrepreneur can be downright scary. I mean, we're talking about venturing into the unknown, putting ourselves out there, and risking failure. It's enough to make anyone break out in a cold sweat!
But, guess what? You're not alone in this nail-biting journey. We've felt those same jitters and wrestled with those nagging doubts. From our first-hand experience, we know how crippling fears and doubts can be, especially when you are at a critical point of starting your dream business!
But what if I told you that there is another way? You can be in the driver’s seat and take control of your biggest fear, conquer it, and turn your fears into opportunities and positive changes in your life and your business. First, let’s confront your fears.
Conquer Your Fear by Facing It
Identifying Where and How Fear Shows Up in Your Life
One way fear shows up is through physical symptoms like making you lose sleep, causing your chest to tighten, and giving you massive headaches or night sweats. But sometimes, fear isn't so obvious. It can disguise itself as perfectionism, making you obsess over every tiny detail. Other times, it slips into procrastination mode and helps you come up with all the excuses why you shouldn’t start today. Or, fear may be the reason why you’ve been stuck with indecisiveness and can’t make up your mind!
(Want to stop getting sidetracked? Learn these 10 best productivity hacks for easily distracted entrepreneurs.)
Get Crystal On What Scares You Before Overcoming Fear
It's time to uncover what's been holding you back. Is it the fear of embarrassment, failure, not feeling good enough, stepping into the unknown, or even the fear of success? Shining a light and uncovering your specific fears is the first step toward overcoming them.
Next, we'll dive deeper into these fears, shed light on how they manifest in your life, and provide you with the tools to tackle them head-on. Get ready to conquer your fears and take the leap into entrepreneurship!
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Most Common New Business Owner & Entrepreneur Fears and How to Overcome Them:
Fear of failure
Embrace the fear of failing just like every good thing that happens to you in life, starting a business is a journey with ups and downs. And when you look closely at all the big decisions you made in the past, you’ll realize that there aren’t failures, only wins and priceless lessons learned. I won’t sugarcoat it – Of course, there are always risks in starting a business. But you can prepare yourself for those possible hiccups by coming up with different plans of action when those scenarios happen.
Fear of not being good enough
Confidence doesn't magically fall from the sky like confetti at a party. Don’t wait around until you feel “good enough.” Confidence is built action by action. The more actions you take, the more confidence you gain from experience and learning, and the more confidence you have to take the next step and the one after that. Go out there, get good at what you want to do, and grow your confidence by doing!
Fear of being judged and embarrassed
We’re social animals, and it’s hard not to care about what other people think. But ultimately it’s up to us to create the life we want. Ask yourself, “Do I want to live based on how other people react and say about me? Or do I want to do what I want and give my dreams and my big goals in life a shot?”
You need to decide if you want to live a life that someone else wants or a life that you want. What you choose to do with your time and energy impacts you, not those people who are judging on the sidelines. Make it count.
Fear of change
It’s time to figure out if you actually want to do this, and if you’re serious about starting your own business. If you’re comfortable staying where you are, that’s totally fine. But if you want to make your ideas happen and build your dream business, you need to get outside your comfort zone. It’s like what people say, “nothing changes if nothing changes.” If you want something different in your life, you have to do things differently. So, ask yourself, do you want your dream business bad enough to make some changes? If the answer is a resounding "heck yes," it’s time to shake things up and welcome some positive changes!
Fear of success
If you are worried about becoming successful, take a step back and rethink what success means to you. Maybe it's about creating a business empire with a team of a thousand people. Or perhaps it's about having a small but mighty crew while bringing in those sweet profits. Success could also mean having the freedom to work from anywhere, anytime, with a trusted squad of contractors by your side.
Redefine success in a way that empowers you, not keeping you small and stuck. And you’ll turn success from something that’s causing you to fear to something that inspires you to leap and dream big!
Whatever your fear(s) may be, the best way to overcome this massive pressure is to break it down and turn it into actionable steps and goals. When you have a plan of action, something as vague and massive as fears can be a lot more manageable. Below is a simple 5-step system that will help you conquer your biggest fear, so you can remove whatever has been holding you back from moving forward –
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A 5-Step Plan to Conquer Your Fear of Starting a Business:
Step 1: Confront Your Fear Head-On
Visualize the thing you fear. Imagine that situation and environment, and write down what that scenario looks like. Make it as specific as possible. The more detailed you can visualize it, the better you'll understand what truly gives you the heebie-jeebies and what you’re afraid of deep down.
Step 2: Assess the Odds
Next, time for a reality check. "How likely is this worst-case scenario actually going to happen? What is the chance, realistically speaking, of fear coming true? Use your best judgment to assess the risk here. Is it 50/50, or maybe a 20% chance of it happening? You might just realize that your emotion has been blowing things way out of proportion, and what you fear is not as likely to happen as you imagined.
Step 3. Find Solutions, Build Confidence
Put on your thinking cap and come up with some brilliant solutions! What are your short-term fixes and long-term solutions if this worst-case scenario that you fear were to happen? These are your plan A and B.
By mapping out your options and action plan for if and when this dreadful situation happens, you'll gain a surge of confidence and realize that there's always a way to move through it.
Step 4. Visualize The Cost of Inaction
Now, Close your eyes and imagine – What if you chose to do nothing, to let fear hold you back? Can you see the future consequences of inaction? Picture yourself six months, a year, or even five years down the line. Are you content with letting fear call the shots? Let that sink in.
The result of doing nothing can help motivate you and gives you the boost to overcome your fear.
Step 5. Decide if you’re serious about starting your business
It's decision time. Take a look at your answers from Steps 1 to 4, and let them guide you toward your next move. You now know what it is that you fear, what the worst-case scenario looks like, realistic how likely it will happen, your plan of action if were to happen, and the consequences of holding back and doing nothing. So, are you going to face this fear and move forward toward your dream? Or will you choose familiarity and the regret of never giving what you want a shot? The choice is yours.
Once you started your business and keep growing it to new levels, you’ll face different challenges and different fears,
Here are 4 effective tips to conquer fear for every business owner, from newbies to seasoned entrepreneurs:
Focusing on your why
Whenever you face a new challenge that feels too big and difficult, recall the reason why you’ve started your amazing business. Tap into that powerful emotional motivation whenever fear creeps in, and use your passion and dedication to help you overcome fear!
Building a Strong Support Network
Find people who care about you, understand you, and truly see you. These people might be your close friends, family, or a professional like a counselor, coach, or therapist. Remember, these are people who have earned your trust, who lift you up, who are there for you through the ups and downs as you grow and scale your incredible business, and who you’d do the same for. Get in the habit of spotting your fear when it comes up and work through it by talking through it with people you trust.
Training Your Resilience to Make Overcoming Challenges Easier
It’s like a workout for your brain and mind, practice spotting and facing fears through taking action and experience. The truth is you can never completely remove the negative feelings that come with fear. But you can train yourself to spot fear faster, save yourself from going down an emotional fear-fueling rabbit hole, and quickly shift your mindset to process it effectively so you can keep moving toward your next big goal.
Embrace A New Entrepreneur Mindset: Fear Is Your Ally
Fear is an emotion just like anger, happiness, and sadness. And just like all human emotions, fear comes up when there’s a reason to. It shows up to protect you from danger or to signal you when something big and amazing is about to happen, usually when you're about to level up, or when an exciting opportunity is within reach!
So, really, fear is either your protector or a bearer of good news telling you that growth and transformation are coming your way. Fear is on your side, learn to welcome fear with open arms!
Let’s stop the emotional snowball! It’s time to take back control and conquer those fears that have been holding you back. You've got this! Don’t let anyone (or fear) stop you from building your dream business and the life you want.
Ready to get things rolling and launch your business? Here's what & when to create buzz-generating pre-launch content.
And if you want to start right, check out these 7 pro tips to make your business stand out & create an impressive brand － even if you're starting out!
If you’re serious about getting your marketing up and running and attracting your dream customers, you definitely can’t miss this one thing that instantly builds massive trust with your prospects: your FAQ page.